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Antabuse can be pretty nasty stuff to have to take on a regular basis. It doesn't only effect a person when drinking alcoholic beverages, but it will also effect you if you ingest ANYTHING with an alcohol content, including but not limited to cold remedies and mouthwash.

If it works I suppose it would be worth being hyper-vigilant about any alcohol going past your lips, but wow, Antabuse can really make a person violently ill. I see the articles say that the trials will involve people taking it for only two weeks, but I have my doubts as to whether or not that would be enough time for a sufficient activation to take place.

"...health will finally be seen not as a blessing to be wished for, but as a human right to be fought for." Kofi Annan

Nymphomaniac: a woman as obsessed with sex as an average man. Mignon McLaughlin

HIV is certainly character-building. It's made me see all of the shallow things we cling to, like ego and vanity. Of course, I'd rather have a few more T-cells and a little less character. Randy Shilts

Antabuse can be pretty nasty stuff to have to take on a regular basis. It doesn't only effect a person when drinking alcoholic beverages, but it will also effect you if you ingest ANYTHING with an alcohol content, including but not limited to cold remedies and mouthwash.

If it works I suppose it would be worth being hyper-vigilant about any alcohol going past your lips, but wow, Antabuse can really make a person violently ill. I see the articles say that the trials will involve people taking it for only two weeks, but I have my doubts as to whether or not that would be enough time for a sufficient activation to take place.

Unpleasant or not, the logic is great. Whatever works at flushing out those reservoirs, we'll have a mighty cure on our hands. More drugs will be researched regarding this aspect, so we have to wait and see. And hope.

Antabuse can be pretty nasty stuff to have to take on a regular basis. It doesn't only effect a person when drinking alcoholic beverages, but it will also effect you if you ingest ANYTHING with an alcohol content, including but not limited to cold remedies and mouthwash.

When I was first diagnosed in the 80's my doc gave me a script for antabuse because it was supposed to raise my CD4 counts . I managed about a month on it till I got a hold of some alcohol by mistake and puked for like what seemed for ever . That was about the same time as around the clock AZT by the handfulls ... jeez those were horrid times .

since I prefer hard drugs, i imagine i could get by with the antabuse just fine.

i guess i'd make a prime candidate.

You're a prime something or other, Tim. Hard drugs are fine, but puking until you think your stomach is going to come out with the next heave? Not so much.

Some people have a more violent and immediate reaction to this drug than others. Hell, I knew one guy who had to take Antabuse as a condition of his parole and he could get as drunk as he liked, with only minor nausea. Tough cookie, that guy. And I knew a woman who was on it who only had to use mouthwash and would be puking for the next five hours. Weird stuff, Antabuse.

When I was first diagnosed in the 80's my doc gave me a script for antabuse because it was supposed to raise my CD4 counts . I managed about a month on it till I got a hold of some alcohol by mistake and puked for like what seemed for ever . That was about the same time as around the clock AZT by the handfulls ... jeez those were horrid times .

"...health will finally be seen not as a blessing to be wished for, but as a human right to be fought for." Kofi Annan

Nymphomaniac: a woman as obsessed with sex as an average man. Mignon McLaughlin

HIV is certainly character-building. It's made me see all of the shallow things we cling to, like ego and vanity. Of course, I'd rather have a few more T-cells and a little less character. Randy Shilts

I really don't remember anything but getting very sick from the antabuse and AZT . I do remember trying my hardest and failing to stay on both drugs . At the time there were no other options to treat HIV and I had just tried and failed with both of them and was feeling rather grim about it all . It only got better , I also lost my health insurance at the same time .

This is a little tangental, but I've read that as few as 1 in 1 million infected cells are dormant, reservoir cells. This is very confusing, since when I do the math, I don't know what cells are being referred to (t-cells, macrophages, other cells?) if someone has a t-cell count of 500 for example (which means 500 t-cells per ML of blood, and the typical 160 pound male has about 5,000 ML of blood), that amounts to a total of 2,500,000 t-cells in the person's body. So obviously, the reservoir is not just 2 or 3 cells.

Do they mean 1 out 1 million cells in the entire body? The average person has about 100 trillion cells in their body, so I don't think that the reservoir of infected cells is 10 million... but I would like to get some idea of what's being talked about, because when I read articles about purging the infected cells, the terms are never really defined.

This is a little tangental, but I've read that as few as 1 in 1 million infected cells are dormant, reservoir cells. This is very confusing, since when I do the math, I don't know what cells are being referred to (t-cells, macrophages, other cells?) if someone has a t-cell count of 500 for example (which means 500 t-cells per ML of blood, and the typical 160 pound male has about 5,000 ML of blood), that amounts to a total of 2,500,000 t-cells in the person's body. So obviously, the reservoir is not just 2 or 3 cells.

Do they mean 1 out 1 million cells in the entire body? The average person has about 100 trillion cells in their body, so I don't think that the reservoir of infected cells is 10 million... but I would like to get some idea of what's being talked about, because when I read articles about purging the infected cells, the terms are never really defined.

Your calculations are not accurate.... ( perhaps i m wrong... )The result is 2.5 bilions....Did you like algebra at school ? I

LOL, I did enjoy algebra. But my calculation of 5,000 ml x 500 t-cells was correct. 2.5 million. But I think Hellraiser is right that since we don't know how many types of cells HIV infects, it's hard to figure out how large the reservoir could be.